In light of price reduction, how much would you pay for an iPhone?

Just before the iPhone debuted in late June, Compete.com asked 103 "iPod shoppers" who pre-qualified as having a "significant interest" in the iPhone how much they would pay.

You see the response chart at the top of this post.

But that was then, and this is now (or as my old bud TBass says, "that was Zen and this is Tao")

In light of this past week's iPhone price cut from $599 to $399 Compete.com's Elaine Warner republishes the chart, and extracts the concept that "At $399, interest increased almost 2.5X to 18%. "

I, for one, don't think these assumptions are all that certain.

Why?

Two reasons.

1. By virtue of the survey participant pre-qualifiers I have just mentioned (iPod user, iPhone "significant interest"), it would seem the canvass is sort of skewed toward those with an interest in that device. Wasn't part of this past week's price drop at least in part motivated by a desire to attract would-be iPhone buyers who haven't been interested up until now?

2. By enacting this sharp price drop, Apple has conditioned the next wave of potential iPhone buyers to wait until the next drop. Some will wait for the next price reduction.

Compete.com's done their survey. Time for us to do ours.

[poll id=134]